I have a flight out of College Station at 645am, as most reservations tell you, be there 2 hours in advance...in the past I have gotten there about 30 minutes early with no problem. Can anyone tell me if that is still the case, especially that early on a Sunday? I really do not want to hang out at Easterwood for 2 hours...

I believe checked bags have to be turned in at least 30 minutes before the flight, but other than that, I wouldn't get there two hours early. I'm not even sure what time they open for the first flight. I'd check.

I would be there at least 45 minutes early. As BlueMiles said you baggage has to be turned in no later than 30 minutes before the flight. We thought since it was such a small airport that 30 minutes would be plenty of time. We made it in the nick of time! The person at the counter also works either the gate or outside.

It looks like you already missed your flight :/

45 minutes or more to be safe. I had an early flight recently that I thought would be very lightly attended, but it was packed. The hangup is the TSA check. They are slow at Easterwood.

Give yourself plenty of time. If you try to save 20 or 30 minutes of sleep, you could end up wasting several hours and hundreds of dollars to get onto the next flight.

What wellboriginal said.

The American Eagle ticket counter (I'm assuming that's who you're on based on the departure time) opens at 5:00, so you'd be waiting fifteen minutes for them to get there if you got there a full two hours early. You would probably make it through security almost every time if you get there less than 45 minutes prior, but is the lost time, hassle, and potentially huge change fee worth it? However, what others said about bag check in is right on, and it's a pretty strict. Also, keep in mind, that 30 minute time is the time for having checked in, not for arriving at the airport. TSA is slow but actually better than they used to be. There are one or two officers that slow the checkpoint to a crawl, but most of the rest of them are fairly reasonable. It's a pretty easy, laid back airport as long as you don't go into it with the mentality of "but this is College Station." I hear those people get left behind all the time.

[This message has been edited by Airport Lurker (edited 10/7/2012 3:26p).]

I flew in and out of Easterwood this past week or so for the first time. It was a great experience. The staff was very helpful and polite. I know that doest answer the OP's questions but I thought I would share on this thread.

There's a lot I like about Easterwood, but getting patted down every single time (literally) I fly through there gets tiresome. I know how good looking and fit I am, but I really do get tired of the groping. I don't even "look suspicious" so God only knows what it is.

I worked for Continental Express at Easterwood back in the early 2000s. We used to have people show up 10 minutes till departure and still get on the plane and that was with bags as well. Some of are more frequent fliers who we were on first name basis with would just throw us their car keys and we would park their cars for them if they were running late.

That being said....better to be safe than sorry, give yourself plenty of time. An hour was always sufficient when I worked there.

Thanks all! 45 minutes it is. Now I just hope I don't have problems in DFW...

I used to fly out of easterwood all the time on business from 2006-2009.
If I was not checking bags I would get there about 20 minutes from departure, if checking bag about 40 minutes.
30 minutes prior for a flight outta easterwood is usually plenty of time, the only time you run into problems is when the person at the counter is pulling double duty and after they check everyone in they are usually helping with security or loading baggage into the plane and that happened quite often.
I did miss one flight , got there about 20 minutes before an early morning flight. There were two people working. When I got there nobody was at the counter and there were 2 people going thru security. Security lady looked at me at the counter and shook her head no and yelled out " youre too late" As soon as security was finished she started boarding process. Loaded em up and closed the doors. The person behind the counter was down below loading luggage.
So yeah I'd say at least 45 minutes prior Is good enough without cutting it too close. 2 hours at easterwood would be like 6 hours at a real airport.

If you talk to anyone that works at the airport they will tell you to arrive 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes before your scheduled departure. The ticket counters do close 30 minutes before the departure time and it doesn't matter if you have checked bags or not, you are not going to get on that plane. Their check-in systems shut down and there is nothing the person at the counter can do about it. Also, remember there are a number of international student/travelers using Easterwood. So if you get in line behind someone flying home with a large number of bags and you've cut it too close, you could just miss your flight. If you were the only one on the flight or if everyone only had carry on bags, 45 minutes might be enough, but do you really want to risk it?

1 hour to be safe is my rule.

I had an international flight that originated at Easterwood some time ago. I can't remember exactly when the flight took off but it was early enough in the am to still be dark. Anyway, I got there about an hour before the flight and went up to the counter to check in and the woman behind the counter was upset that I showed up an hour before. She said "Don't you know you're supposed to be here two hours before an international flight". I asked why and she said that it takes extra time to go through security. I looked to my left and to my right and I was really the only person in front of the counter and there was nobody in the security line because it was so early. I asked her if she was joking and she said no. I kept my mouth shut because I once got into hot water for mouthing back at an uppity TSA agent at Hobby Airport, but I laughed the whole time going through security, which took all of ten minutes and then sat and waited to get on the plane for 45 minutes.

I know it isn't particularly popular to say this but authority goes to some people's heads. Good you didn't decide to challenge it. Then you are going to lose what is their game.

If people brought their typical internet personality to the airport security area, there would be a lot more grounded folks...especially around here.

Sitting in easterwood right now took me 18 minutes to get to the gate looks to be a packed flight but tsa was very quick